


I Want Everyone To Know

by theslashbunny (theplotbunny)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Christmas, M/M, Weddings? I love weddings!, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-27
Updated: 2015-06-27
Packaged: 2018-04-06 09:53:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4217178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theplotbunny/pseuds/theslashbunny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After settling into a life together in upstate New York, Dean decides that with their new identities firmly cemented, it's time to make things official.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Want Everyone To Know

**Author's Note:**

  * For [verucasalt123](https://archiveofourown.org/users/verucasalt123/gifts).



> Originally written to fill a prompt over at the Let's Get Gay Married comment fic meme on Livejournal, June 28, 2011. The prompt was "After settling into a life together in upstate New York, Dean decides that with their new identities firmly cemented, it's time to make things official" as requested by verucasalt123. Finally posted here in honor of the SCOTUS decision released on 6/26/2015.

They were the talk of the town when they moved in. The air was buzzing with the news that the old Adams place had been sold to three men from out of town. Driving through the wood-lined twisting roads into town that first day as residents, Dean could feel everyone watching, waiting.

He’d let Sam and Cas pick out the house. He’d not cared as long as there was a garage for his baby and no picket fence in sight. His brother and angel had picked out a tiny hollow in upstate New York to settle down into their new life, and an old, rundown Edwardian to set up as a home. It had the space that Cas had insisted on, set away from the road as well as the town itself, with a back lawn and an impressively overgrown garden. There was a space over the carriage-house-cum-garage that could be made into an apartment for Sam. The Apocalypse was over and their new life could finally begin.

~*~

The Campbell brothers and Mr. Novak had paid very little for the property but spent several months gutting and refurbishing the house. The younger Mr. Campbell (“Please. Call me Sam.”) and Mr. Novak (“Cas is acceptable.”) ran a bookstore in a small corner shop on the square that got a surprising amount of traffic - and odd traffic at that - for being in such an out-of-the-way town. The older Mr. Campbell (“For the love of – just don’t call me that. _Please_. It makes me sound old.”) quickly became the guy to see at the local mechanic’s for anything related to classic cars.

They were accepted into the community faster than any outsider had ever been before. Perhaps this was because the baked goods Sam made for the bookstore every day could be reasonably classified as addictive substances. Maybe it was because the vegetables from Cas’s garden were not only delicious, but happily shared. Or possibly it was because Dean told the best scary stories the local kids had ever heard. All anyone knew was that they belonged.

That first Fourth of July after their arrival had been the first community-wide event the men had attended. Many hopes were dashed and hearts were broken when Dean stole a kiss from Cas while manning one of the park’s grills. By the time that the fireworks started (Cas watching the sky with awe, like he’d never seen anything like it before, and Dean watching Cas with a similar expression), Sam had been bombarded with questions too personal to ask either man directly but just right for interrogating a relative, and the news was out: Dean Campbell and Cas Novak were both _very_ taken – but Sam was still fair game.

~*~

It was easier than Dean had ever expected, fitting into society like this. Sure, it helped that this particular community was really small. And yeah, they occasionally went on local hunts that others sent their way, but it was still a surprise. The house, a steady job, family meals, a sense of community – they were all things that Dean had always sworn he never wanted, never needed, but that he now didn’t think anyone should ever have to do without.

He’d thought it would be suffocating. But there was freedom in being Dean Campbell, local mechanic who lived with his soulmate and his brother and played poker with friends – actual _friends_ , not just acquaintances – on the weekends. And here he was, drinking egg nog on the couch in front of a roaring fire, watching Cas finish decorating the Christmas (“But Jesus wasn’t born in winter.”) tree while Sam joked about getting a miniature trench coat to put on the male angel tree topper that he’d somehow managed to find. It was snowing outside, carols were playing on the radio, Sam was smiling, and Cas was focusing way too hard on spacing the ornaments _just so_ on the branches.

“Hey, Cas?” His dark head was tilted, eyes narrowed at the tree in an expression that reminded Dean forcefully of the many life-changing moments he experienced, all with Cas by his side.

Perhaps it made him selfish, but after all they’d survived, Dean had found himself with so many things he never thought he’d ever have, things in the past he’d viciously reminded himself were for _other_ people, _normal_ people. And it only made him want more.

His only acknowledgement was a deep, “Hmm?” as the love of his life meticulously plotted where each decoration should hang.

“Will you marry me?”

Cas froze and Sam, wide-eyed, kept looking back and forth between his brother and the angel. After a moment of silence, Cas finally turned his intent and puzzled expression toward Dean and Sam mumbled something about needing some nog before slipping out of the room. They simply stared at one another for a while until Cas moved to sit in front of Dean, the coffee table creaking under his weight.

“Why?”

That wasn’t exactly what Dean had been expecting, but it wasn’t surprising either, not from Cas anyway. It’s not like they ever did anything the traditional way. Hell, Dean hadn’t even planned on asking him and didn’t have a ring to give him. But in that moment, he’d known that marrying Cas was the one last thing that he wanted – the last bit of “normal” that he thought he’d ever want or need.

“Because I love you.” There was that stare. The one that still unnerved some of their neighbors, but that Dean would never grow tired of seeing – it was like Cas was looking into his soul. And maybe he was, but Dean would never turn away from that gaze ever again.

“I know. And I love you. You know that, don’t you, Dean?”

“I know.” He did know that. They may not say it every day, but they showed it in ways that Dean had never thought he’d experience, like so many other things post-Apocalypse.

“And you have already promised me forever. I have promised you the same.”

“I know.” Dean also knew that it wasn’t a simple promise coming from an angel. There was no “’til death” for them, thank God (literally). And when Dean took the time to think about it – about being with Cas until the day he died and then beyond – forever still didn’t seem long enough.

Blue eyes narrowed even further as Cas tried to puzzle out what seemed so simple to Dean.

“I don’t understand. You have already heard every promise I could give you.” Cas still didn’t inflect much when speaking. His mannerisms had become more expressive and more human, but Dean was often the only one who could tell when Cas was feeling insecure – like now. Neither of them was good at communicating their feelings with words, but Dean would never want Cas to think that he was missing something in their relationship. Not when Cas had risked so much for him and given so much to him.

Dean fixed his gaze on the handsome, perpetually stubble-covered face in front of him and leaned forward to set his cup to the side and grasp Cas’s hands in his. “I know how much you love me, Cas. I know better than anyone how much you’ve given me and I can never hope to repay you for that. I know I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to be the man you think I am and I’ll always be grateful to you for the faith you’ve had in me.” Cas was so still, fixated on the words coming out of Dean’s mouth.

“We both know that we’d do anything for each other. And we both know that this is it.” He tried to take a deep breath and was surprised when it caught on the lump in his throat. “You’re the only one I’ll ever want. You’re the one that I’m going to spend the rest of my life with.

“… And I want everyone else to know, too.”

It only took Cas a few seconds to process what Dean meant and then Dean was being kissed, breath stolen by the intensity of the emotion behind what on the outside looked like a simple act.

The tree stood forgotten in the corner the rest of the night. But later that month, in a place of prominence at eye-level, its boughs were graced by a simple ornament that had not figured into Cas’s original decorating calculations: a pair of bells engraved with the words,

  
“Our First Christmas – Dean and Cas.”

**Author's Note:**

> The rest of the Let's Get Gay Married! comment fic meme can be found here: http://bree-black.livejournal.com/84411.html
> 
> There are some fantastic entries, so please go check it out!


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